If “idle hands are the devil’s workshop,” and if our own hands are not idle when we use machines and other property to do our work for us, then does the resulting prosperity guarantee our salvation? Though the title of this blog is not an entirely fair play on Max Weber’s, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, the ownership of human beings as commodities certainly relates to the drive for profit because there is little doubt that unfettered capitalism itself is the result of slavery. However, the intention of this blog is not to point out the good and bad aspects of capitalism; rather, the intention is to point out the prevalence of modern day slavery and how easily we can end it by changing our views on what “success” entails, and by increasing racial and gender equality. We can accomplish this by simply becoming aware of what is happening and how we are each contributing to its continuance.

December 2nd is the United Nations’ International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, and this blog is in observance of that day. The International Day for the Abolition of Slavery is significant because people throughout the world are encouraged to publish material on slavery to raise awareness and combat its continuance.

Increased globalization amplified the profitability of slavery through cheap labor in various parts of the world. Many of the items we use daily, such as cotton, sugar, cocoa, rugs, and bricks are likely to have connection to slavery. Once these items reach the global market, it is difficult to track their source.

The people held in slavery are themselves are viewed as investments and arecheaper today than at any other time in history. They are usually young because the elderly and very young cost more to maintain and cut into revenue. Experts on modern slavery, such as Kevin Bales, describe them as “Disposable People” because they are merely thrown away or killed when they no longer produce enough profit for the owner.

Despite numerous treaties and law abolishing slavery throughout the world, slavery remains. Because of this, we must go beyond the anti-slavery laws themselves and pay closer attention to laws which prohibit discrimination based on race and gender. This is because these are the groups at the most risk of poverty due to discrimination, thereby placing them at increased danger of being taken into slavery.

2 Responses to “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Slavery”

I was speaking to a Jordanian kid that attends the school that I work for on this issue. I had spoken to him previously about the slave conditions for guest workers in both Abu Dhabi and Dubai because he has a home in Dubai. In the course of our conversation we discussed the lack of access to one’s travel documents being an indicator of slavery. This led to the revelation that the domestic employees that his family keeps in Jordan, UAE, and Canada do not have access to their own passports. I pointed out that it constitutes slavery at least in Canada and is illegal. He said they have to do that or they would run away, and I pointed out that if they aren’t free to leave they are slaves. He got agitated by this and said that it didn’t matter because his family has diplomatic immunity. I talked at some length at this point about the moral question not being negated by the inability to be prosecuted. I am still working on this kid in an effort to break the cycle of thought that allows slavery to exist. We still have a way to go. I think that a big part of raising awareness on this issue is for people to realize that the perpetrators of these crimes are sometimes quite innocuous at first glance and can be otherwise nice people. I knew this young man for nearly three years before discovering this about him quite by accident. I just hope I can change his mind before he is a man running his own household. Thanks for blogging about this important and sometimes uncomfortable topic.